Supernova
by Kawaii Stephy Desu
Summary: Fan written sequel to Riot's story, "Starfall". Lux thinks she has finally overcome her fear of losing her teammates until she makes a strategic error that put the lives of her fellow Star Guardians on the line. Mentally shaken, she resigns as leader of the group despite her team's pleading. How does the team cope without their guiding light? Does Lux find reconciliation?
1. Chapter 1: A Promise

**A/N:** This is my first fan fiction I've ever published, but don't be shy to post criticisms. Since I don't have much opportunity to write, chapters may come at an irregular schedule. Please excuse any mistakes. Thanks all commenters and reviewers.

 **Chapter 1: A Promise**

For days on end, Lux went on and on about how she planned to make a great impression on all her new classmates once school began. The pink-haired girl would bounce around all day, eyes bright with excitement, planning what she wanted to do, what she wanted to buy, and what she wanted to see. After all her energy was eaten away, she'd collapse on her bed and dream of some more activities that she'd undoubtedly talk forever about the next day.

"I thought the last days of summer vacation were supposed to feel a lot shorter," said Poppy. The short, blue-haired yordle sat in the dining room with a strong cup of coffee. She needed the energy to keep up with her leader, Lux. The red-haired girl said nothing, but grunted in agreement. It wasn't often that Poppy and Jinx agreed on something. Despite sitting at the same table together for breakfast, Lux didn't hear a word the two said over her own chatter.

Lulu and Janna, the remaining members of the team, paid close attention to Lux. " _Perhaps they were actually interested in what Lux had to say. Perhaps they were just humouring her,"_ Poppy thought. It was probably the former. It was annoying, but at least Lux wasn't stressing out over her recurring nightmares anymore. Still, the nonstop barrage of words needed to stop.

"I'm going out!" yelled Jinx so that everyone could hear her. The whole table stopped to look at her.

"Okay. Have fun," said Lux cheerfully.

"Hey, wait. I'm coming too." Poppy hopped of the dining chair, grabbed her satchel, and followed Jinx out the front door.

"Don't follow me, shorty," warned Jinx.

"Don't worry. I didn't plan to," replied Poppy. The two started heading off in different directions to get away from Lux.

Meanwhile in the sorority home, the remaining three were still staring at the front door. "Since when did those two become such great friends?" Lux joked. They all shared a chuckle and Lux resumed talking. Again.

Needless to say, Lux's plans for making a big splash didn't go exactly as she expected. Her grades were flawless, her kindness and helpfulness unmatched, but she made one slip up.

During the second week of school, Lux went on an active hunt to search for the astronomy club. In particular, she was searching for a girl named Ahri. Like Lux, Ahri also commands a team of Star Guardians. Star Guardians are born to save the world from voidlings. All along, Lux believed that her group of five guardians would only be able to rely on one another for help. Now with Ahri's group, Lux believed that both teams would be safer if they joined forces. Lux brought up the idea during their first meeting, but Ahri coldly shot it down. Convinced it was because she hadn't gained Ahri's trust yet, Lux made it a personal mission to get to know Ahri's team better.

"Hello. Is this the astronomy club?" Lux asked one of the many boys in the cramped classroom. The question was rhetorical. Anyone with eyes could see that they were in the right place. Posters welcoming any new club members were posted everywhere on the school grounds.

The boy nodded, so Lux continued. "Do you know of someone named Ahri? I heard that she's in this club." It was at that moment, that Lux knew she...made a mistake. The boy's eyes widened. His jaw tightened. His face twisted into a mixed expression that Lux didn't even know was possible. "Uh...are you ok?" she asks with concern, creeped out by the weird kid.

"YOU DON'T KNOW AHRI? HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO SHE IS? ARE YOU FROM A DIFFERENT PLANET OR SOMETHING? SHE'S ONLY JUST THE-" he screams at Lux. His arms flail wildly for emphasis.

"Woah. Okay, I get it," Lux interrupts, trying to save herself from the embarrassment. She slowly tries to back away. He talks over Lux, ignoring the looks he's attracting.

"...THE ABSOLUTE PRETTIEST GIRL THAT HAS EVER EXISTED IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE."

Lux stood in the center of the crowd awkwardly. A fox-eared girl shuffles in through the crowd. Her cheeks are bright red. "Sorry, were you looking for me?" she hisses. For such a pretty face, she looks very intimidating when angry. Everyone stares at the three.

"Uh, yes. Hi, Ahri. Could we talk in private?" Lux flashes a nervous smile.

"Is it important? I'm starting a club meeting in a minute" Ahri's voice is a little louder than Lux would like.

"I guess it can wait."

Lux later found out she was the unlucky soul who just happened to ask the president of Ahri's fan club about the one thing he appreciated most in life. And to add injury to insult, Ahri rejected every friendly invitation from Lux since the embarrassing event.

All things considered, the event wasn't _terrible_. Most classmates just thought the boy was strange and in a way, the event did get Ahri to notice Lux more. But what Lux can't stand is the bullying that stemmed from the incident. If anyone wants to win a fight against Lux, they'd simply bring up the incident and laugh. The one saving grace Lux has is Jinx. Bullies would temporarily shut their mouths when Jinx would threaten to impale their eyes with a pencil. No one wants to mess with an armed, tattooed trouble maker like Jinx. Unfortunately for Lux, Jinx rarely shows up to class if at all.

Since then, about four months have passed. It's December which means Snowdown is coming soon. Most of the students stay inside during lunch to avoid the cold.

"Poppy, Lulu, I'll see you when class starts!" Lux calls out to them as she steps foot out the classroom door.

"Going to see Ezreal again?" Poppy teases. "Have fun." She scarves down another helping of her lunch, some rice sticking to her cheek. Lulu gently closes her eyes and shot Lux a reassuring smile as confirmation that she heard her. Janna simply glances at Lux from her desk across the room, her face neither approving or disapproving of her choice.

Although Ahri hasn't warmed up much, Lux managed to befriend some of Ahri's teammates: Soraka and Ezreal who she has been visiting more often during lunch breaks.

Lux squeezes through the horde of loving fan girls crowding around Ezreal. "Excuse me. Sorry." Part of Lux knows how rude it is to push through the crowd. Surely these girls wanted to talk to him just as badly as she does. Through the crowd of admirers, Lux can start to see the tip of his yellow, spiked hair.

"Ezreal!" Lux cries out over the crowd. Unsure of whether he heard her, Lux raises her voice. "Ezreal?" He breaks his conversation with a girl he is undoubtedly trying to charm. Jealousy nips at Lux's heart. " _He's not mine, so why should I care?"_ She pushes it aside for now.

"Lux, how are you doing?" he asks cheerfully. Ezreal starts to walk towards Lux, struggling to slide past the herd of girls. "Excuse us, ladies. I want to talk to her for a second...in private." He drags Lux towards around the corner, away from prying eyes. Overall, the crowd respects their privacy. Some girls glare at Lux with clear resentment.

"Hey. What's up?" Ezreal leans against the wall and folds his arms. Lux's heart skips a beat when she look into his eyes. She struggles to make coherent words come out of her mouth.

"A-about last Tuesday..." Lux forces herself to swallow a lump in my throat. "Thanks for saving us from...well...you know."

He fakes a look of confusion which melts into a smile. "From the voidlings? It's no problem. Star Guardians have to stick together after all. If you ever need help, just call us and we'll be there faster than a rocket." His grin widens as he finishes his sentence.

"And who are _you_ to be volunteering the assistance of your allies?" A firm hand strikes Ezreal's shoulder, sending a jolt through his body. "Oh. Hey, Sarah," he blurts out. "I sure am popular today. Need something?"

"Hello, uh.. Miss Fortune." Lux gives her a friendly wave. It's still weird calling her that knowing she's no more than two years older. Miss Fortune gives Lux a glance before halfheartedly muttering out, "Hello, Lux. Sorry, Ahri just wants to have a word with Ezreal before lunch ends. Can your chat continue later?" Before Lux can even respond, Sarah starts dragging Ezreal by the elbow. " _It must be urgent. I suppose It'll have to talk to him next time,"_ thinks Lux.

"Lux, my offer still stands. Don't worry. If Sarah won't come, I'll still come," says Ezreal. A small number of people have started staring at the strange scene. Miss Fortune's annoyance grows and her grip tightens. "I promise," he yells from across the room. Lux is sure that rumors will stem from this, but she secretly welcomes them.


	2. Chapter 2: Onslaught

****Chapter 2: Onslaught****

Lux stretches out her body before collapsing on her bed. The moonlight shines brightly through her window, illuminating her bedsheets. " _Today was wonderful_ ," she thinks to herself. Class went by quick and although it was brief, she got to speak with Ezreal. There were no skirmishes between Poppy and Jinx, Lulu was cheerful as always, and Janna's home-cooked meal pleased all palettes tonight. (Yes, even Jinx wolfed it down without complaint.) And to top off the meal, everyone had dessert: Lux's personal favorite - cake! Lux flips on her back and rests her wrists on her forehead. The gentle light coaxes her eyelids shut. For Lux, it feels that all the stars are aligning.

Lux mulled over the math equations she learned in class today while trying to doze off in bed. "X squared plus -wait no - minus…" Lux murmurs while half asleep. She yawns and rolls onto her side so that the moonlight no longer directly hits strikes her eyelids. Suddenly, an unsettling feeling pulls at her gut. " _Sigh. Please, no,"_ she pleads. She curls up tightly. Half a second later, she hears her bedroom door slam open.

"Lux, do you feel that?" wails Poppy. "It's an invasion."

 _Ugh. Why today?_ Lux feigns sleep so she's not accused of being so irresponsible. "Huh? What?" she rubs her eyes sleepily. "Where's the others? Are they up?" Poppy shakes her head. "No, but they're about to be. Let's go get them."

Janna wakes up with no complaints, but it's a hassle dealing with Lulu and Jinx's whining. Lux secretly wishes she could be one of them and refuse to get out of bed, but sadly the responsibility of setting a good example as team leader falls on her. "Besides, there's lives at stake," Lux thinks to herself.

"Is everyone ready?" Lux asks as they leave the front door of their home. Everyone nods and readies their weapons. "Okay then. Star Guardians, let's show 'em what we're made of!" Lux calls from the top of her lungs. They rush towards Valoran Park, the site of the unsettling feeling in all their beings. An abnormally large number of distortions litter the city streets, making the night sky look like the inside of a circus' hall of mirrors. A couple voidlings are skittering across the pavement, their mandibles rubbing against each other and producing a chittering noise. More voidlings, which are attracted to the noise, begin to pool out from the distortions.

"Everyone, spread out!" Lux orders. " _Minor voidlings such as these are a cinch to clean up. However, we need to finish these off before larger monsters are called_ ," she begins to strategize. But it's too late. A small horde of monsters with cannon barrel-like tongues appear north of the team. They squat in one location and begin to spray acid in all directions. The bubbling green liquid corrodes the pavement inches from Lux's feet. Jinx is the first to react. A couple rockets from her finish the monsters off relatively quickly when suddenly another small horde spawn to the south. The ambush surprises the group, but a howling gale from Janna and a shove from Poppy silence them.

The monsters are surprisingly well-coordinated today. Several times, the Star Guardians are caught off guard by large praying mantis-like monsters and menacing, floating, plasma-shooting monsters which resemble octopi. The mantis-looking monsters are extremely nimble and seem to be following a hit-and-run strategy. They slice at the team, aiming for their legs to cripple them, then flutter away to shelter with a strong beat of their wings. Their distractions give plenty of time for the octopi to charge and fire their rays. Throughout the battle, none of the team members are able to escape being singed by lasers or suffering a few scrapes.

Lux sets up the Star Guardian barrier. "Let's take a short break, girls. You've earned it," she says. Janna pulls out a medical kit and they each attend to some minor wounds.

The team manages to endure the onslaught, but they are slowly losing ground to the voidlings. "Sounds like fun over there," comments Jinx on some explosions in the distance. The team turns towards the area. Occasionally they can see the night sky light up with the blasts. "I'm glad you're in good enough condition to joke," Lux sighs. In the best-case scenario, Ahri's group of Star Guardians are sweeping voidlings like water does sand on a beach. Their teams could lean on each In the worst-case scenario, citizens could be… dead. "Everyone, we need to hurry," Lux pants. She can see that everyone is in just as bad condition as she is. Sweat laces their faces, a few streaks of blood drip in long lines off their outfits. " _They're all injured, but we're not in peril_ ," observes Lux. The sparkle of determination still lights their eyes.

"Hey boss, there's more coming," warns Jinx. She defaults to her battle stance. Kuro and Shiro, her familiars, stand at the ready to help. Lux turns to her right. Indeed, there are more monsters spawning. The octopi stand in a row, stagnated. They begin firing in waves.

Janna speaks up. "Don't you think it's unusual? There's so many of them…"

"Yeah, they're too organized," agrees Poppy. She readies her hammer.

"Less talking, more shooting," interrupts Jinx. "Whatever they're doing, I'm willing to bet we'll find out the reason if we blow past them."

"For once, you're making sense," taunts Poppy. The two glare at each other, but put aside their argument for later.

"Get ready," Lux cautions as she lowers the barrier.

The first wave of projectiles slowly approaches. Jinx rushes in headfirst. Lulu shields her and the whole team surges forward to join them. "Poppy be our front line," Lux orders. "Lulu defend Jinx. Janna be my backup." Their shields shatter instantly against the barrage of plasma beams. The monsters are so strong - much stronger than the ones fought earlier.

Another wave approaches. Everyone tries to dodge. They're not even close to being within range of relatialiating. Jinx takes a direct hit from the ray. She lets out an ear piercing scream and Poppy turns back to take a look at the damage. Janna takes a hit, shielding herself a little too late to stop the blow. She gasps, the wind knocked out of her. Lulu starts screaming, not knowing how to help either of them. The team is so distracted, they don't notice the pinsir attack they've trapped themselves into.

Some time between lowering the barrier and diving at the enemies, more monsters spawn behind them. Only the sound of crackling electricity betrayed the plasma ball that was about to hit Lux. Lux instinctually dodges the blow by sidestepping. The plasma ball shoots right through the team lineup. Jinx winces as she gets up again with assistance from Poppy. The monsters completely surrounded the team. Cowering towards either the left or right would mean the plasma would crumble the foundations of the skyscrapers around them. Lux looks around frantically for another route, but fails to find an escape. She pushes herself to think clearly. " _Should I stay to kill the small mob behind us or should we press on together to take on the larger group?"_

There isn't much time for her to weigh the options. " _If I don't stay behind, these monsters are free to shoot us from behind. We can't commit the whole team to the small group either. That would expose our backs to the even larger swarm. However, if I do stay, then the team might get overpowered as they draw closer. Then, I really wouldn't be in position to assist. The others trust me to make the right choice."_

 _So many possibilities, so many things that could go wrong…_

The others look to Lux for guidance. She must've been stunned there for a while. "Everyone, we're pushing onwards with the plan. We can wipe the stragglers out after we take out the main squadron," Lux screams over the chaos. Everyone gives Lux an affirmative nod.

No matter how nimble they are, the team can't avoid all the impediments coming their way. Poppy attempts to shield her all her allies using her own body. The rest of the team is worried for her, but no one says a word because they all know she's the most heavily armored of them all. Letting the others get too injured before closing in would mean certain death. They swear to make the monsters pay tenfold for hurting Poppy. Stray beams occasionally strike the others. They sting; Lulu bites her lips to hold back the tears. _We're almost close enough to retaliate. Patience._ Lux takes another glance at Poppy to check her status. She's barely standing now. It's time to switch the frontline. _It should be fine now that we're getting close. The others can take a few more hits._

"Janna, Lulu, take the front. Shield yourselves as best you can. We're almost there," Lux instructs. They nod and move to take over the position from Poppy. Janna and Lulu's shields are unable to completely mitigate the damage, but Lux tries her best to toss out her shield to assist when she has opportune.

Rifts start materializing to the left and right, making the walls trapping the team look like they're slowly melting away. The monsters that emerge look disproportionately large to the small tear in the dimension. Their body build is similar to the mantis, but with much larger mandibles designed to crush their enemies. In addition, they appear stockier with an extra set of limbs (making a total of 3 sets). The monster's upper limbs are clearly made for impaling victims rather than slicing prey like the mantis' bladed arms.

The ground trembles as they approach. They're heavy, slow, and most importantly, they're advancing steadily at the team. Jinx starts firing at the monsters as they enter her range. Lux throws out her Lucent Singularity. The twisted light creates an anomaly in the area that slows the large monsters coming from the left. The monsters approach, forcing the girls to dive in different directions to avoid them. The plasma beams from the octopi relentlessly and indiscriminately hit everything in their paths. Lux begins to lose vision of her teammates. It's impossible to direct them without having a full grasp of everyone's situation. She makes an executive decision.

"Everyone, group up!" Lux hollers. Everyone vaults themselves towards the center without hesitation and orient themselves back-to-back. The large monsters stomp the ground, rupturing the pavement and leaving stalagmites in their wake. There's too much to focus on for Lux. As Lux braces herself for the stomping cousins of the mantis, a plasma ball strikes her squarely on the back. She screams as she is pushed to the floor by the force. The burnt odor of her singed clothes mingles with the copper scent of blood.

"Lux!" Lulu screams. She kneels over Lux, her hands hovering over what Lux can only assume is a large sizzling patch branded on my back. Lulu fights hard not to cry. " _The injury must be pretty bad_ ," Lux assumes. She begin to feel lightheaded, a total contradiction to the heavy sensation in her lungs. She tries to clear out the mucus by coughing. Was mucus always red? The world starts to spiral from her blood loss and Lux's vision begins going white.

The last things Lux remembers seeing are Poppy and Jinx working together. Janna's normally stoic face is grimacing. The stomping monsters close in. The team falls into disarray without their leader. With each fallen member, it gets more difficult for the remaining to survive. The stomping monsters' ruptures knock up Lux's teammates, juggling their bodies like ragdolls. They fall one by one, their lights fading. It looks like they're all going to be crushed into star dust.

A huge wave of sparkling energy cuts through the air, slicing the monsters cleanly in half. It's too much energy to keep her eyes open any longer. Lux whites out to the sound of more explosions and clamor.


	3. Chapter 3: The Dying Star

**Chapter 3: The Dying Star**

Lux's head is still ringing when she finally regains consciousness. The colors in her vision that have bled together barely begin to register as separate faces. Lux tries to ask whoever is near of her condition, but it only spills out a jumble of barely distinguishable syllables. The pain, which lay dormant beforehand due to the rush of adrenaline, is as clear as glass shards now that the danger is over.

"She's awake," a concerned voice says. In the fuzziness of Lux's memory, it's difficult to pick out who it is. Lux closes her eyes, tempted to let the moment pass, but memories of the recent fight come flooding back. With considerable force, Lux commands her brain to try to think straight. _Who's in front of me? What happened? Where's the others?_

Lux blinks a few times until her vision clears. Ezreal is holding Lux as she lay on her back. His arms prop Lux up so that the burnt patch on her back doesn't make any physical contact with his lap. Another face is also staring down at Lux. A mint-haired girl with lagomorphic ears is just as worried as Ezreal.

"Ezreal, Soraka…" Lux trails off.

Lux slowly forces herself to look down at her body, half expecting to see a gaping hole through her stomach. Soraka's hands gently hover over Lux's body. A green colored aura radiates off of her palms, offsetting the vivid red of Lux's dripping blood. Lux can't see the wound under all the red, but Soraka seems to know exactly where each drop of blood stems from. Little beads of sweat are dripping from Soraka's face betraying her fatigue, but she silently endures the pain.

"You," begins a harsh voice. A growl begins to form in their throat. " _Is that Ahri?"_ Lux wonders. "Is this what you call being a leader?" Lux turns her head slowly to look at the voice. Ahri's arms are folded, teeth clenched. Her fox tail swishes angrily as if she's ready to attack Lux. "What do you think you and your team of rookies are doing taking on a large horde of voidlings like that? Did you really think you guys could take them all on?"

"We were ambushed," Lux says...or so she wants. She decides against arguing with Ahri. It never turns out well. Besides, she didn't have the strength for it anyways. Ahri continues with her lecture.

"Being a Star Guardian isn't a joke. We exist to save the world. What good are you if you can't even save yourself? If you're going to do something stupid, do it alone. I shouldn't have to endanger my friends to pull your team out of the mess you made."

"Ahri," Ezreal cautions. The two share a glare at one another.

" _That's right...my friends…"_ Lux realizes in her semi-conscious state. "Where's my friends?" Lux barely manages to croak. Ahri closes her eyes crossly as if she isn't done chastising Lux quite yet. She points an index finger towards her right. Lux cranes her neck to look past Soraka's petite figure. Her heart drops. Poppy, Lulu, Janna, and Jinx are lying in a pool of their own blood which trickles into the various seams of the cracked earth. Bruises more numerous than the galaxy has stars blemish her team members' normally flawless skin. Lux can almost make constellations between them using the extensively long cuts on their physiques. Syndra and Miss Fortune are kneeling over Poppy and Lulu respectively. The bandages they wrap around minor wounds seem to do little for Lux's allies as they appear to instantly become soaked red from fresh blood.

Lux pushes herself away from Ezreal to give herself space to vomit, but she only manages to dry heave. Lux finds herself wishing that the searing pain on her back would hurt even more to distract herself from the sickening scene. She pants, heart struggling to recover from the shock. Thoughts race in her mind, bouncing off the inside of her skull and giving her a major headache.

Ahri, who had been watching Lux's reaction the whole time, spoke up. "They'll live," she sighs.

For the next hour, Lux sat on the cold pavement next to Ezreal as Soraka went from person to person to heal them. Lux pressed her knees as close to her body as possible and let her hands overlap her heart as if trying to patch the void that remained. Tears streamed abundantly from Lux's eyes, so she tried to focus on a single point on the floor to still her sobbing.

The moment felt so surreal to Lux - like she was an insect preserved in amber. _How did this happen? Why did this happen? Who could've done better?_ During the eternally long hour Lux curled there, Lux arrived at the only logical answers she could think of. _I let this happen. I led them to this. I could've done better._

Soraka healed everyone's major wounds to the best of her ability. She barely had enough energy to keep herself conscious by the time she was finished. The girl shifted from her kneeling position to get on all fours. Her arms trembled even under the light weight of her own figure. Miss Fortune rushed to her side in order to help her stand. Even with those tired eyes, her smiling face showed relief for Lux's team's well-being.

"Let's get you guys back home. Can you fly?" asked Ahri. Lux swallows hard trying to regain enough of her composure to speak.

"Yes," Lux replies. She wills herself to get on her feet. Ahri, Syndra, Ezreal, and Miss Fortune each shoulder one of her teammates. Soraka, who admittedly looks like she's in just as bad state as Lux's teammates, is pardoned from carrying anyone. Ezreal attempts to put his palm on Lux's shoulder for reassurance, but Lux pulls herself away, not daring to look him or anyone in the eyes. She could tell she hurt him, but she knew Ezreal would understand. She needed some more time to mull over Ahri's words. "Let's go," Lux said. Everyone took off into the night sky.

Poppy was the first to stir after the incident. The icy sting of a cold breeze revitalized her hazy mind. She was flying - though not by herself. Her arm was slung across Syndra's shoulder.

"Are you awake?" whispers Syndra. Poppy could've sworn that Syndra didn't even move her lips while speaking. She nods. Syndra was examining her, making her feel quite uncomfortable. Poppy redirects her towards the cityscape quickly. "You should rest," Syndra concluded. "You're not heavy. I can carry you the rest of the way."

"T-thank you," wheezed Poppy. Poppy took a look at the situation around her. Jinx, Lulu, and Janna are all present which means they all survive yet again. Relief fills Poppy's heart. " _Where's Lux?"_ she thinks to herself. She swivels her head around to find her.

Lux is leading the group towards home. Poppy couldn't see her face and Lux refused to turn her head back once. Lux's flying is somewhat shaky as if someone tied a weight to one of her legs. Ezreal follows closely by her side. He looks like he's there to brace her if she starts to nosedive. However every time Lux starts tilting, she determinately balances herself again. "She's safe, too. That's all that matters," thinks Poppy. The icy breeze is unbearable in their uniforms, but the road to the sorority home is much shorter when flying.

When everyone reaches the house, Poppy signals to Syndra that she'd like to stand on her own. Syndra obliges and lets her off her shoulder. Lux pulls out the house keys and fumble with the lock, ignoring Poppy's presence. Lux enters the house first to turn on the lights. Ahri, Ezreal, and Miss Fortune follow Lux inside to help both Poppy and Lux lay the others in bed. When they finish and gather at the front door, Poppy turns to Lux expecting Lux to say a word of appreciation. Instead, all she sees is the look of regret and defeat cemented on Lux's face. "Thank you, guys for saving us," begins Poppy. "We're in your debt." Poppy slightly bows her head to Ahri's team. Lux gives a similar bow, then looks away from Poppy in shame. As team leader, _she shouldn't have to speak up on my behalf._

"Don't expect us to come save you every time," warns Ahri. "I suggest you guys practice more or you'll end up as stardust."

Poppy and Lux swallow the insult. Ahri's team begins to leave the house after their leader. Soraka turns around to politely bow to us both as if begging for a pardon for her leader's harsh words. She scampers through the door which Ezreal holds open for her. "Lux," he offers. "If you want to talk about it, I'm always here for you." He pauses, waiting to see if she takes up his offer. Lux shifts her feet uncomfortably. "But if not, I'll just check up with you on Monday when class starts." He takes one sad last look at Lux before taking his leave. The slam of the door echoes in the night.

Lux and Poppy stand in front of the door silently for a while, compelled by an invisible tension to stay in place. Poppy decides to release her. "I can see you're not feeling well," sighs Poppy. "We can talk about it tomorrow if you'd like."

Lux glances down quietly at her feet and nods slowly.

"Let's get some rest, then." Poppy walks down the dark hall to her room.


	4. Chapter 4: Exoplanet

**Chapter 4: Exoplanet**

Lux's nightmares have returned. She and her friends are falling into the atmosphere, their bodies slowly disintegrating. Lux reaches out to them as if her touch will stabilize their degenerating forms. Her desperate cries are lost to the emptiness of space.

Lux jolts awake so violently that she knocks over her bedside lamp. Hastily, she retrieves its rolling base and precariously balances the lampshade on top of the wire frame. " _What time is it? Wait-no. What day is it?"_ Lux tries to recall. The analog clock reads "1:44 p.m." _I was out for quite a while_. Lux puts on her slippers and unsteadily limps out of her room.

Poppy, Lulu, and Janna are sitting in the dining room chatting. They immediately turn to Lux as she stumbles towards them.

"Lux!" exclaims Lulu. The green-haired yordle hops off her chair to wrap her arms around Lux's legs. "We were so worried about you when you wouldn't wake up."

"I-I'm fine," Lux lies to her. She focuses herself so she doesn't lose balance and collapse on Lulu.

"You were breathing hard and kicking in your sleep," she continues. "We thought you were still hurt." She nuzzles her cheek against Lux's thigh. Lux strokes Lulu's hair and smiles.

"Where's Jinx?" Lux asks.

"She left about two hours ago," answered Poppy. "She didn't say where to." They all share a mutual sense of concern. Silence blankets the room. Poppy is the first to rip off the cover.

"Lux, how's your back? Are you okay? We all saw you pass out after getting hit by the plasma last night," she carefully approaches the situation. Lux stands confused for a second before she unconsciously reaches for her back. There's no pain, no scarring, nothing to indicate that anything misfortunate ever happened. Soraka's magic is incredible - the power to heal almost any injury.

Lulu releases Lux's legs and tilts her head. Lux blinks at Poppy until thoughts enter her brain. "Yes, I'm okay," she replies. Her voice sounds mechanical. Janna stands up and floats over to Lux's side. "May I?" She gestures towards Lux's back. Lux nods. Janna's fingers slide under her shirt, feeling the skin underneath. The fingers are cold, but Lux doesn't pull away. Satisfied with the unblemished surface, Janna withdrew her slender fingers. Her hand meets Lux's and she gently tugs at Lux until she follows her to sit down on a chair.

"After you were hit last night, we tried to defend you while sticking to the plan. But...but we blacked out too," Poppy says defeatedly. Poppy cupped her hands around a half-empty mug of coffee. _The liquid inside is pitch black, just how Poppy likes it. No cream, no sug-_

"Lux, are you listening?" Poppy interrupts. Lux snaps out of her trance.

"Huh? Yeah. Please, continue," Lux stammers. Lulu's joins them at the table, motioning for Pix to come join them. She hugs the familiar tightly for comfort.

"You were the first to regain consciousness, right? What do you remember?" All eyes are on Lux.

"Not much," Lux confesses. The piercing gazes continue to bore into her skin. She turns her head away to look at the very, very interesting label on the back of a bottle of hand sanitizer. " _Kills 99% of germs". Woah, how amazing. Science sure has gotten far._

"Okay...so, tell us what you do remember," encourages Janna.

"Well," Lux starts. "I remember a bright light cutting through the monsters."

"That must've been Ezreal's Trueshot Barrage," offered Janna. "What else do you remember?"

"Soraka was in the middle of healing me." Poppy carefully examined Lux's composure. Lux was clearly uncomfortable. She kept fidgeting and wouldn't look at them straight in the eyes. Frankly, it was making everyone else nervous. This was more difficult than pulling teeth.

"And?" presses Poppy.

"I look behind. I look behind her and I…" Memories Lux was trying desperately to suppress puddle to the surface and Lux sinks deep into the chair. She could remember everything. The smell and taste of fresh blood. The explosions. The singed flesh. The smoke.

The guilt.

"What did you see?" Poppy's serious gaze fades. Lux starts to whimper. Clearly, whatever Lux saw was truly disturbing. Unable to bear looking at her leader for any longer, she glances at her feet.

"I-I see..." Lux chokes out. Lux scrunches her face up in futile attempt to stop the tears. Her body is trembling so violently that she holds her hands in front of her face to take a look at her sorry state. Breathing exercises weren't helping either. She tallies her fingers in her mind to try to contain myself. _One...two...three…_ The tears blur her vision and she's unable to count any higher than three. Lux resumes after the pause. "I see..."

"Lux, stop," pleads Janna. She rests her palm on Lux's thigh. "You don't have to continue." She pauses to let her words sink in. "I saved you lunch. Why don't you eat first? You're probably hungry after skipping breakfast," she suggests.

Poppy and Lulu sense that they should leave. Janna has a way of letting others know.

Lulu gets up to hand Lux some tissues which Lux gladly accepts from her. Then she scampers away to her room to draw Lux something adorable to cheer her up. Meanwhile, Poppy starts muttering something about how she should go search for Jinx before Jinx searches for trouble. She excuses herself from the table and slips out the door.

Janna opens the fridge to retrieve Lux's lunch and put it back on the stove. Lux stares quietly at her hands while her food heats up. She places the warmed pasta dish in front of Lux and starts to make tea for herself.

Janna is quietly staring at Lux while Lux picks at the pasta with her fork. Lux twirls the strands of angel hair pasta. The tinkling of silverware is clearly audible in the silence. Janna's cooking looks as delicious as always. The dish is light, simple, designed to make the most of seasonal ingredients. But a void emptier than Lux's stomach needs filling first. Lux glances up at Janna who has taken the seat directly across from her. They lock eyes for an awkward moment.

"Do you not like it? She places her cup of tea back down.

"No, it's not that. I'm just not hungry," Lux says softly. Lux feels terrible for not even trying a bite, yet she can't muster the mental strength to eat.

"It's fine. I understand," she replies. "Don't worry, I'll clean up for you."

"No, I got it," Lux insists. Lux fumbles her plate as she walk towards the sink. She leaves for her room straight afterwards.

The whole afternoon, Lux sat on her bed thinking about last night. No matter how many times she replayed the fight, she came to the conclusion that she was responsible for all her friend's injuries. Ahri's lecture haunted her. With each round of guilt and regret, Lux pictured the scene bloodier and bloodier until she could no longer distinguish actual memories from her imagination. Fear for her friend's lives no longer made her heart pound. Instead, her heart ached like when someone drinks coffee only to still feel tired but with a faster heart rate.

" _What does it mean to lead? What is expected of a leader?"_ Lux thought to herself quietly. She never questioned whether it was her place to guide the others. The position just came naturally since she formed the group first with Jinx. The others joined later on. But did being first mean she had the natural right to lead? The more she thought about it, the more she would break down into tears. She gave up trying to wipe her face; her sleeves were already drenched.

A leader should be strong. What would the others think of her if they saw her now? Clearly she terrified the others when she broke down earlier. Her teammates deserved to know what happened last night and how she felt about it. Open communication is essential to being a leader as well. She rubbed her swollen and tired eyes. She braced herself, knowing that she would have to confess during dinner.

Lulu clambers onto one of the dining room chairs. The green-haired yordle looks around for any sign of her missing teammates. "Where's Lux...and Jinx?" she asks sadly. Pix hovers around her shoulder, only understanding the word "dinner" and nothing about the gravity of the situation.

"Hm...I think Lux is still in her room." Janna taps her finger on her cheek thoughtfully. She puts on some heat resistant mittens and reaches into the oven. Poppy helps set the napkins and utensils on the dining table.

"Dinner's ready," calls out Janna. She carefully moves the plates of baked salmon to the table. She portions some kibble for her familiar, Zephyr, and the other familiars. The three sit down to wait for Lux, knowing that Jinx still hasn't returned.

Poppy, Janna, and Lulu all anticipated that Lux wouldn't look her best, but they were still heartbroken to see their leader with slightly swollen, pink eyes and a matching color nose. There was no hiding that Lux had been crying in bed. Still, they pretended that nothing was wrong so Lux could keep some dignity.

"Did Jinx come back?" asked Lux. She sat down in her chair.

"No," replied Poppy.

Lux looked down sadly. " _Where did she go? She's been gone for hours,"_ she thought. Poppy looked on empathetically.

"Don't worry about it, Lux. Typical Jinx stuff." Lux gave her a tired smile, glad that she had friends to comfort her. She wondered if Jinx's disappearance had anything to do with her. The four of them began to eat.

Janna watched over Lux like a mother during dinner. Lux would pick at the food, eating tiny bites only when she noticed Janna was looking. Unable to keep up the facade any longer, Lux begins to speak.

"Girls, I have a confession," she begins. Lulu wraps her arm around Lux as she professes what she saw, her guilt, and her regret. She struggles with the words, occasionally pausing before tears get the best of her. She's rambling (and she knows it), but she wants to spill out her feelings before they consume her. She blinks away the oncoming tears and looks up at her friends' reactions. As expected, her friends seem relieved.

 _They understand..._

"So that's what's been bothering you?" asked Poppy. "Lux, we're all safe." She let her words sink in for a while. "No one blames you for what happened."

"The monsters were acting so weirdly last night. There's no way any of us would've figured out what they were plotting," said Lulu. She dipped he head down, pretending she were in deep reflection. "Even the stars agree," she continued.

Janna smiled, amused at Lulu and also relieved that Lux confessed. "Lux,..." She paused dramatically. "...we'd be lost without you." Like Lux hadn't heard that before. "We trust you with our lives."

 _...They understand so much, it hurts._

"That's the problem," Lux explodes. Tears begin to flow freely. The others are taken aback by their leader's outburst. "I led you all into that mess. We would've been killed if it weren't for Soraka. I failed as a leader."

"No, you didn't. Lux, being a leader isn't about knowing exactly what to do all the time. No one is that perfect. Being a leader is about resilience. In the heat of the battle, we can always rely on you to come up with a strategy. Even when things look grim, you find us a way. You give us hope that we can make it through." Janna reaches across the table and cups one of Lux's hands in hers. Lux takes a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Lux sobs. "I think I need some time alone." She pulls her hand back and starts to shuffle towards her room.


	5. Chapter 5: Guardian's Pinnacle

**Chapter 5: Guardian's Pinnacle**

It's Monday morning, two days after the fight.

"Lux? Are you up? Breakfast is ready. You'll be late to school if you don't hurry." Poppy knocks on Lux's bedroom door. There's no answer. She decides to let herself into the room. Lux is still curled up in her bed facing the wall. The sheets are pulled tightly over her shoulders.

"I'm not going to class," Poppy hears Lux whisper.

"What?"

"I'm skipping class today."

Poppy stood still in the doorway in disbelief. Lux was going to skip school? After all her efforts this summer to make this school year perfect, Lux was going to throw it all away? Poppy looked sorrowfully at her leader. Lux had changed so much in the past couple days. It was difficult to swallow. Where was their optimistic, energetic leader? Poppy shut the door and left Lux to her self-pity.

"Is she going to eat breakfast?" asked Janna.

"No," grunted Poppy. "She said she's going to skip class." Poppy shoved a slice of buttered toast in her mouth.

Janna looked down at her food. Lux hadn't eaten much over the weekend. It concerned her deeply. The only proper meal Lux had was last night when Janna practically had to force her to sit at the table until everyone else finished. She made sure that Lux at least ate a third of her meal.

"Come on. We'd better start walking," Poppy slung her school bag over her shoulder and slipped on her socks.

"What about Lux and Jinx?" asked Lulu.

"Leave Lux be," said Poppy. "As for Jinx, since when does she come to class?" Poppy left the door to avoid further questions. She didn't feel like talking to Janna or Lulu at the moment. If anyone, she wanted to talk to Jinx.

Jinx was rarely home during the past days. She'd leave the house early, then return past midnight. No one knew what she was doing and no one had the opportunity to ask. Whatever Jinx was up to, Poppy didn't care. There was only one thing Poppy wanted to talk about.

Poppy found it extremely difficult to concentrate in class without Lux around. History in particular was boring because of the overwhelming amount of material that needed to be covered. People bicker, people war, people die. Who cared when all this happened? Ultimately, what happened then doesn't concern her now. But she knew that if Lux was sitting in class with her, she'd disagree wholeheartedly.

Poppy thanked First Star that class was finally over. Another moment in class and she would consider throwing her textbook out the window. She shoved her notebook and pen into her book bag.

"Poppy, are you coming?" asked Lulu. Usually the girls walked home together.

"No, actually," replied Poppy. "You guys go on ahead. I'll be back before dark."

Lulu looked confused, but left the subject alone. Poppy had been thinking hard in class. Not about history, but about where Jinx could run off to every day. She was going to hunt her down and ask her a favor.

Finding Jinx is one of the most difficult tasks anyone could impose on someone. Jinx is there when you don't need her and missing when you do need her. Such is the case for Poppy. Poppy searched all of Jinx's favorite locations. She checked the scrapyard, the rooftops in the ghettos, and every sweet shop she could think of. There was no sign of Jinx anywhere. " _Funny,"_ thought Poppy. " _Where could Jinx possibly be?"_ The sun was starting to go down. Poppy was about to give up on her search until a thought occurred to her. She decided to check one last place.

Poppy walked to Valoran Park, the site of Friday night's disastrous battle. Sure enough, Jinx was sitting on the nearby hill. Jinx notices Poppy approaching to her right. She doesn't want to talk right now, but is too lazy to get up. Poppy sits down in the grass next to Jinx. She looks out over the park and lets Jinx start the conversation.

"Are you going to ask me why I'm here?" Jinx guesses. Her grumpy attitude is apparent in her tone.

"No," says Poppy. She mirrors Jinx's attitude.

"What do you want then?" The conversation finally piques Jinx's interest. She looks over at the yordle. Poppy doesn't look back.

"I want you to talk to Lux." Poppy finally says. She opens her mouth, prepared to explain the situation to Jinx, but she gets cut off.

"No. I'm not going back." Jinx leans back and braces her body with her arms. A note of sadness creeps into her voice.

"What? Why?" Poppy exclaims. "Aren't Lux and you childhood friends?" Poppy stands up and balls her hands into fists. She never understood Jinx. Why was Jinx always so difficult? She spent all afternoon searching for her and when she finally found her, this is the answer she gives?

"Lux _needs_ you," continues Poppy. "She's so depressed about Friday that she won't eat!"

"I know," whispers Jinx. "I've known Lux since we were children. When things like _this_ happen, she becomes despondent. I don't want to see her that way..."

"Jinx?" Poppy looked at her comrade in disbelief. She didn't think a person like Jinx would ever have such complex feelings. This is a whole different side of Jinx. For once, Poppy was inclined to take Jinx seriously and drop her childish arguments against her. It was clear that everyone was affected by the events that transpired recently.

"But that's precisely why you have to come back." Poppy put a hand on Jinx's shoulder. She looked Jinx in the eyes. "Friends are there for one another in their time of need. It's just what they do."

Jinx looked down at the ground, thinking about what Poppy said. Nothing is more satisfying than destruction to Jinx, but the one thing she can't stand is when Lux breaks down. She's just bad at consoling people. Yet when she's feeling upset, Lux knows just what to do and say to get her moving again. And that is what made Jinx feel terrible: her inability to repay Lux.

"I promised that I'd be back by sundown," said Poppy. "Now are you coming or are you not?" Poppy offers her a hand.

"Yeah, yeah." Jinx grabs on and pulls herself up to stretch.

"Good. Janna's been making dinner for you even though you never show up." Poppy smirks. "Don't waste her effort."

Janna and Lulu set up the dining table for dinner. They both expect Poppy to be back soon. After all, Poppy has never gone back on a promise. Lulu debates on whether she should prepare a set of utensils for Jinx considering she hasn't been home in the past two days. As if reading Lulu's mind, Janna instructs her to prepare a set anyway. "I just have a hunch," she says playfully. She adds some more spices to the stew she's stirring. Lulu raises an eyebrow at the experienced Star. The front door's lock starts to jiggle right on cue.

Poppy triumphantly marches inside. "Hey guys," she smirks. "Look who I found!" She throws both her hands up at Jinx who waltzes in behind her.

"Hey, Loopers," says Jinx. She waves at Lulu.

"Jinx!" Lulu runs to meet Jinx at the door. Jinx gives Lulu a pat on the head as a greeting. Janna smiles at her.

"So, where's Lux?" Jinx smiles happily at Lulu and her friends. They give her confidence and strength to talk to Lux. She wanted to use her excess strength before she started getting cold feet.

"She's in her room," says Janna. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. In the meantime, help me finish making dinner." Jinx groans.

Jinx falls back on her dining chair. "I dunno how you do it, Janna," she whines. "Cooking is tiring." Poppy brings a vegetable dish to the table. "Why don't you help her more often then?" teases Poppy. Jinx returns Poppy's cheeky grin. She's ready to talk to Lux.

"Lux, come out. We have something to tell you," calls Lulu. Janna, Poppy, Lulu, and Jinx all sit down together to patiently wait for their leader to leave her room. They chattered excitedly. Lux turns the door's handle and steps out, not noticing her friends until she turns around and looks up.

"Hey, Lux," Jinx says nervously. She smiles and waves, preparing to let Lux know that she's here for her. "Lux, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you. I was afrai-," Jinx begins.

"Stop," orders Lux. Her tired eyes narrow. "I know you've been avoiding me."

"Lux, I-." Jinx's apologetic tone goes unnoticed.

"You don't have to tell me why," Lux continues. "I already know why. You've been avoiding me because you resent me for being a bad leader."

"What? No, I don't," Jinx bursts out.

"I endangered all of you. I know you guys forgive me…," Lux looks at Janna, Poppy, and Lulu. "...and I know you don't," she turns to Jinx. "I've done a lot of thinking the past few days. I'm leader because I formed the team, not because deserve to be leader." She turns to address them all.

"I've decided Poppy should become leader."


	6. Chapter 6: Pass the Burden

**A/N:** Please forgive me. I hope I didn't go too OOC for Janna here. Tell me if I am way off. I try to keep as lore-accurate as possible!

 **Chapter 6: Pass the Burden**

"What?" Jinx and Lulu shout in unison. Poppy and Janna stare at Lux in shock. Lux looks at the floor in shame, then looks back up to continue her speech. "I just-,"

" _What just happened?"_ thought Lux.

Lux reaches up slowly to touch her left cheek. She looked at her hand. No blood, but her face stung. She looked at her teammates in confusion. They all stared back. All of them, but Janna. Janna's right hand was outstretched, palms pink. Her face, starting to get damp with her own tears.

"You're not my leader. You're not the Lux I know," Janna sniffled. " _Did Janna just slap me?"_ wonders Lux. She rubs her fingers against the palm of her hand. Jinx, Lulu, and Poppy looked at Janna fearfully. Lux managed to break Janna, the most stoic and mature guardian. Having the experienced guardian crack in front of them is a blow to them all. Janna's anger quickly subsides as she realizes what she's done. Regret starts settling in, but Janna refuses to apologize.

Poppy balls up her fists and clenches her teeth. She eyes Lux angrily. "Fine!" she roars. "Janna's right. You're right. You don't deserve to be leader. Not when you're like _this_. I'll take over for now."

"Poppy?" Lulu asks with concern. Poppy puts her hand up to silence her. The team looks to their new leader. "Everyone...", Poppy growls. "You're all dismissed." Poppy turns around and glares at Lux. "I won't force you to eat. Just know that starving yourself won't contain the void in your heart." She walks off towards the dining room. She stops as she's about to round the corner. Janna wipes away her tears and follows Poppy. Lulu looks towards Poppy, then Lux, before ultimately deciding to chase after Poppy. She gives one last sad look at Lux before following her new leader.

Lux can feel that she's not welcome at the table. She starts to walk back into her room. "What a shame," Poppy snarls from across the hall. "Janna makes you food every night, you know." Lux starts crying and quickly hides in her room. She locks herself inside.

Jinx looks down at the floor, wondering if she shouldn't have listened to Poppy. " _It sounded like the right thing to do at the time,"_ she reasoned with herself. Now she wasn't too sure. She follows the rest of the team to the dining table.

Dinner is silent. No one says a word. "Poppy, do you think I did the right thing?" Jinx asks. Poppy picks at her food like everyone else.

"Yeah, I think you did. It's Lux who's lost it," Poppy responds. "You should tell her about the misunderstanding later when she leaves her room."

"I don't think she'll listen…," Jinx trails off.

"Poppy are you really going to be leader?" Lulu asks innocently. She sighs unhappily. "I'm not opposed, it's just strange."

"Don't worry. I'm not offended," Poppy says. "And yes, I'll be leader for now. At least until Lux regains her sense."

"Will she though?" asks Lulu.

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"I just do," Poppy lies. "Trust me."

The next couple days are especially rough on the team. Poppy, Janna, and Lulu go to class as if nothing happened. They lie to their teacher about Lux being ill. Ezreal, who had been asking since Monday, is disappointed to hear that Lux isn't at class again. Initially the team is opposed to telling Ahri about the shift in leadership position, but they ultimately decide to tell Ezreal. On Wednesday, Lulu lets Ezreal in on what happened to Lux.

"Poppy is leader now," Lulu sums up what happened to Ezreal.

"What?" He looks at Poppy and Janna as if Lulu were telling a poor joke. "That's not like her."

"Tell us about it," scoffs Poppy.

"Well haven't you guys talked to her about it?" Poppy is not amused by his accusatory tone.

"Of course we have," she snaps at him. "Look," she starts. "We've been trying our hardest to cheer her up. She won't even look at us." Poppy's face softens. "It's just that we don't know what to do anymore. We're lost without Lux. We were thinking maybe you could talk to her because you guys are so….I don't know...close?"

Ezreal looks thoughtfully at the Poppy. "I promised Lux that I'd save her no matter what. Even if it's from herself. And I don't break promises."

"Liar."

"Okay, you got me. But I won't break my promise to Lux. I'll talk to her tonight. Mind if I drop by at around eight?"

"Sure. That's fine. Thanks Ezreal. We really appreciate it." Poppy gives him a relieved smile.

Poppy, Janna, and Lulu head off to the park after school. The first snow of December starting to fall. They find Jinx sitting in the same location as before.

"You're going to catch a cold, Jinx," Lulu jokes. "The stars told me so."

Jinx doesn't even chuckle. The other three sit down next to her. They all think about the situation silently for a few minutes.

"Are you still mad at Lux?" Lulu asks Poppy.

"Yeah, a little," Poppy replies coldly. "She's our leader after all. How could she abandon us? Why? What do you guys think?" The group says nothing for a minute.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm cold. I'm going to get some hot coffee or something." Poppy gets up and brushes the snow off her jacket. Her teammates watches her leave. After another ten minutes, they decide to head home for dinner.

Lux feels slightly better after passing the burden of team leader to Poppy and decides to spend dinner with her teammates tonight. Poppy is strangely missing, but the others are there. The awkward tension is nothing compared to the pain she's endured over the weekend.

"I'm sorry I acted that way." A vague sense of relief fills Lux after her apology. "I just felt so guilty about letting you all get hurt."

"It's fine. We all still love you." Lulu comforts her.

"Does that mean you'll be leader again?" questions Jinx. The other two wait eagerly for Lux's response.

"No." Lux pokes at her mashed potatoes. "I never want to feel responsible for hurting you guys again."

"It was never your fault," Janna says.

"But I can't shake off the feeling that it was." Lux sighs. Eager to change topics, she asks about Poppy. "How's Poppy taking the leadership position?" Jinx and Lulu look to Janna to respond. Janna looks down, avoiding the looks.

"It's just not the same...," Jinx responds.

"Speaking of Poppy, where is she right now?"

"Uh. We don't know." Jinx shuffles nervously, not wanting to tell Lux about Poppy's frustration.

Janna helps Jinx switch the subject. "I'm just happy that you're eating again, Lux. We have more if you'd like seconds."

"No thanks. I don't think I can eat much."

"Okay. Are you coming to class tomorrow morning?"

Lux takes a bite of her food. She chews slowly to give herself some more time to think. "I just feel weird returning after skipping class. I don't know if I'm ready…"

"You should really come to school." Janna sees that Lux feels uncomfortable. She decides to cut Lux some slack. "At least think about it tonight."

"Okay," Lux says unhappily.

"Come on now. Let's finish dinner."

Dinner is much more relaxed after the conversation. After everyone eats their fill and helps with cleaning up the table, Janna helps Lux catch up on the lessons she's missed from school. Lux absorbs the information quickly while Lulu struggles. It isn't long before she gives up and starts sketching animals instead of sketching parabolas. Learning isn't quite up Jinx's alley either, but she stays at the table for Lux's company. Although it was Jinx's choice to stay, it didn't stop her from whining the whole time. Lux smirks as Jinx buries her face in her hands and groans. A gentle chime distracts them all. Janna reaches for her book bag to look for her cellphone.

"Oh? Someone calling Janna? How unusual," Jinx teases Janna. "Who is it? Is it your boyfriend?"

"Actually it's Lux's boyfriend," Janna answers the phone calmly. Lux looks at Janna, perplexed.

"Ezreal?" Lux asks.

"Oh so he is your boyfriend?" Jinx nudges Lux's side.

"Cut that out!" Lux playfully shoves Jinx back.

"I didn't hear a 'no'."

"Hush. Both of you," Janna picks up the phone. "Hello?" There's a pause. "Why? What's wrong?" Another pause. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that." One last pause. "She's is feeling better." Janna smiles at Lux. "Don't worry about it. Let's talk again later. Mhm. Good night." She hangs up.

"What was that about?" Lux asks.

"He said he kept trying to call you but you wouldn't answer, so he called me." Janna replies. Lux shuffles nervously.

"Oh. Right." I just didn't want to talk to anyone.

"I'm sure he understands."

The late night study session lasts for a few hours. Jinx can't help but take a nap on the table. Poppy returns back around nine. When she enters the home, she's surprised to see Lux at the table.

"Hi, Poppy." Lux is visibly more upbeat. Poppy glares at her teammates. They all seemed to be getting along great while she was out. She felt childish for feeling jealous.

" _It's not fair,"_ Poppy thought. " _She just threw the title of 'leader' onto me. How am I supposed to know what to do? I've never had to lead before."_ Poppy took a deep breath to calm herself. "Hey," she said simply. " _Lux looks so less stressed now that she's passed her responsibility to me. I should be happy."_

"We're having a study session. Do you want to join us?" Lux chimes.

"No." Poppy starts walking towards her room.

"Wait. What's wrong?" Lux reaches her hand out slightly.

"Nothing. Just fidgety. Had coffee." Poppy starts walking off again. Lux is about to question her more until Jinx stops her. Poppy slams her bedroom door.

"Did I do something wrong?" Lux is baffled. She looks to Jinx for an explanation. When she doesn't answer, Lux looks around at Lulu and Janna. Their guilt is evident on their faces. Lux starts tearing up again. "What are you guys hiding?"

" _It's best if she doesn't know,"_ Janna thinks to herself. " _But she looks so fragile right now."_ Janna can't bear to let Lux fall apart again. She racks her brain for the most gentle way to break the news to her.

"Poppy is just a little overwhelmed," she began. "It was quite a shock when you asked her to take leadership."

"O-oh," Lux said mindlessly. " _It was really selfish,"_ she thought. "I should go talk to her."

Janna wasn't sure which way would turn out better, so she let Lux leave. Perhaps they could resolve it themselves.

"Uh, Poppy?" Lux knocked on Poppy's bedroom door. She waited. Some shuffling could be heard inside.

"What is it?" Poppy tried to keep her tone in check.

"Can I come in?" Lux asks. Poppy sits at her desk, wondering what excuses would sound reasonable. She sighs. Nothing is more important than her friendship. Poppy hops off her chair and unlocks the door. She motions for Lux to sit on her bed. When Lux enters, Poppy clambers onto her study chair.

Lux isn't quite sure of what to say. She hasn't rehearsed it in her head. She decided to take the advice she normally gives and put it to use. Be direct and honest. "Poppy, I'm sorry for forcing you to become leader."

"You didn't force me." Poppy can't fathom why the apology only made her more angry. "I said I'd do it."

Lux could see that her tactic was clearly not working. And on top of it, she didn't have any more bright ideas. Lux struggled to think of what else to say. "I just wanted to let you know that I understand how stressed you must feel…" Lux trailed off and started twiddling her thumbs. Poppy was unimpressed.

"Guys do you feel that?" Lulu yelled from the hall.

" _Feel wha- oh no,"_ Poppy thought. Lulu was always the first to sense it, but now she felt it too.

"Another invasion." Lux whispered.


	7. Chapter 7: Resolve

**A/N:** Last chapter! I'm so sorry for the long wait. Part of me can't believe that the story is finished so soon. There's so much I would like to improve. Please leave a comment/review. I'd love to know how I did for my first fic. Also, report Lux KS.

 **Chapter 7: Resolve**

Poppy stood paralyzed in the room. "Another invasion? So soon?" Poppy looked to Lux; Lux didn't move.

"What do we do?" Lux asked Poppy.

"What do you mean?" Poppy panics. Her eyes are wide from fear. "You're still our leader, right?"

"I-I don't think I can lead," Lux responds. Visions of the last fight plague Lux's mind. "No, you're the leader, Poppy. I can't do it. What if I mess up?"

"What if _**you**_ mess up? What if _**I**_ mess up?" I've never led anyone befo-," Poppy approaches Lux, but Lux shrinks back. Realization hits Poppy and she takes a step back. Anger reinstates her mind.

"So that's it?" Poppy snarls. "You didn't come to take back your responsibility? You just came to say you feel sorry for me?" Poppy runs towards the door, anger fueling her. "Everyone, lets go!" Poppy screams out. The team rushes out the front door. Before they take off, Poppy turns to Lux. "Just stay here. You'll just get in the way." Her voice is cold. Colder than the fresh snow.

Janna, Lulu, and Jinx all turn to look at Poppy in disbelief.

"What? Why would you say that?" Lux complains. Poppy doesn't have an answer. She turns away and flies off. The others follow her. Lux waits for half a minute, deciding whether to disobey. She takes off after them.

Poppy leads the team back towards Valoran Park. Voidlings spill out from spatial rifts around them. The monsters fly off in all directions. This'll be an arial battle. " _The monsters are so spread out,"_ thinks Poppy. The rest of the team catches up with her and floats nearby.

"Jinx, you take the monsters to the left. Janna, help her out," Poppy commands. Lux lands behind her teammates. "Lulu and I will take the monsters on the right," Poppy finishes.

"How about me?" Lux pants, trying to regain her breath. Poppy doesn't turn back.

"Didn't I tell you to stay at home? What good are you in that mental state?"

"What mental state?" Lux yells. She's desperate to be included. Poppy pauses. She inhales deeply.

"You don't have the confidence to shotcall, but you have the confidence to fight?" Poppy roars. "I think not."

"I'm not a proper leader," Lux protests. "But I can still fight."

"Poppy, she's right," Lulu comments. "I can see that you guys still haven't sorted everything out yet, but we need all the help we can get. Don't let your emotions blind you."

Poppy snarls at Lulu, upset that Lulu would defend Lux. "Fine. Lux can join the fight too." The others engage in fights. Poppy lets her resentment wash over her and targets the nearest floating tentacle monster. "Hmph...OUT OF MY WAY!" She slams her hammer squarely in the center of the voidling's single eye. The creature screeches and retreats back.

" _In aerial battles, majority of monsters are the tentacles monsters. Individually the monsters are weak, but they have strength in numbers. The smaller monsters only shoot plasma balls. They're not too hard to avoid in the air. It's the larger voidlings that the team has to be fearful of. The larger tentacle monsters are capable of shooting rays. If we dodge too many structures will take damage."_ Thoughts race through Poppy's mind.

"Janna," Poppy calls out. "How are you doing with shielding the buildings?"

"I can shield most of them, but not for long." Janna's gentle voice can barely be heard over the battle.

"How about the civilians?"

"Most have evacuated," Lulu replies.

A tentacle lashes out at Jinx and she hisses in pain.

"Jinx!" Lux yells. Lux races towards Jinx, but a chunk of concrete from a crumbling building falls cuts her off.

"Idiot, as if that'd kill me," Jinx sneers. "Concentrate on the fight."

Large tentacle monsters spawn on either side of the team. The move in position and start firing a ray of destruction. The ray melts through the outer walls of the concrete buildings. Additionally, the monsters are exceptionally fast for their large size. The voidlings are able to pivot and control their rays much more accurately than the smaller monsters.

"We're not falling for that again!" Poppy yells. She runs to the nearest large voidling and tackles it into a building. The monster's ray attack is disabled. On the opposite end of the fight, Janna sends a Howling Gale to blow the monster back to whichever dimension it came from.

A ball of plasma strikes Lulu on the shoulder, crippling her ability to cast magic with her right arm. Lulu gasps and regains her balance.

Lux stops a fight with her opponent to look at Lulu's injury. "Lulu's in danger," she thinks to herself. "If she can't fight then,..." A tentacle monster charges at Lux. Poppy blocks it with the handle of her hammer. With superhuman strength, she swipes the monster away from herself.

"What are you doing, Lux?" Poppy yells.

"S-sorry."

"I-I'm okay!" Lulu calls out over the commotion . She fires a Glitterlance at the monster Poppy pushed back. The monster explodes into a burst of purple goo.

Lux drifts over towards Janna and Jinx to assist them. The skyscrapers near this particular area are particularly unstable. Lux dodges to her right and snares two enemies in front of her. With one Singularity, the monsters explode. What remains of the voidlings falls to the concrete below. More voidlings attack her, but she's not particularly worried about them. Instead, she's concentrating on the horde of minions that are starting to pile up near Jinx and Janna.

"Janna, has everyone evacuated the area? I can't use my rockets without blowing up the buildings," Jinx comments.

"They should have all left, but to be safe, avoid destroying the apartments. There could still be people inside that are trapped." Janna scans her surroundings for any bystanders.

"Aww, what's the fun in that?" Jinx whines. " Saving the day isn't as fun if nothing blows up." Janna glares at Jinx. "Sheesh, I'm just joking. What's the plan, Janna?"

"Let's focus on the monsters in front of us for now. We can take care of the side monsters after." Jinx nods and loads her minigun. Jinx mows wave after wave of monsters down, but her inability to use her rockets allows the monsters to slowly creep up on them. The monsters behind Jinx and Janna get steadily closer.

"Jinx, let the voidlings behind us get close. I'll bait them." Janna prepares a tornado to wipe out the monsters. Jinx keeps on shooting, keeping the monsters behind her out of mind for the time being.

"Get ready," Janna warns her. The voidlings creep behind Janna, but she's ready. At any moment now, Janna can blow a whole wave of them away in one swoop. " _Patience...patience,_ " Janna readies herself. " _Almost...NOW!_ " Janna turns to aim and release her charged up tornado. The voidlings are as good as dead.

"JANNA, WATCH OUT!" Lux tackles Janna. The tornado launches in the wrong direction. It grinds against the wall of a skyscraper, but quickly loses power and fades. The foundation of the building rumbles. The debris forms a cloud. Guardians and voidlings alike pause to look. The rumbling stills. The building barely survives the attack.

"Lux, why did you do that?" Janna raises her voice. "I had that under control."

"I-I'm sorry," Lux stammers. "I didn't know. I just got scared and...and I panicked."

"Lux, stand back," Poppy sighs. "You're going to get us killed like that. Clearly you're still disturbed about Friday."

"No, I'm not," Lux denies. "I can still fight."

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can. Do I have to make you stay back?"

"You can't do that."

"As leader,..." Poppy growls.

"No, wait!"

"...I order you,..." she continues.

"Poppy, please," Lux begs.

"...to stay where you are."

Poppy glances back to see if Lux obeys. Lux is crying, wiping away tears with her forearm. She's trembling, but Lux still stays in place.

Poppy rejoins her other allies at the fight. "I kind of feel bad," Poppy tells them. "But, she's a hazard out here." The others silently agree with her. "Come on. Let's finish this." The team surges forward and wipes out more voidlings.

The attack is a battle of attrition rather than the usual short fights. The team stave off the monsters which are more tedious to kill than dangerous. They alternate between getting pushed in and pushing back. Somehow, they're still holding on. " _Doesn't this feel oddly nostalgic_?" Poppy amuses herself. The monsters' numbers show no sign of dwindling.

A deafening roar pierces the air. Guardians and monsters alike turn to look at the new challenger. A blue-green claw grapples the side of a large building. Glowing yellow eyes peer at the heroes from underneath its purple shell.

"W-what is that thing?" Poppy's eyes widen and she takes a step back. "It's huge!" The monster roars again and jumps down. The concrete shatters underneath its weight. "Run!" Poppy orders. The monster's large antennae twitch at the sound of Poppy's voice. It charges straight at the team and plows them over.

Poppy, Jinx, Janna, and Lulu are launched in different directions. Jinx and Lulu hit the side of a building with a loud 'thud'. Poppy and Janna are able to recover in mid-air.

"This is bad. Janna, go help them. I'll try to stall the big one."

"You're going to take that thing on by yourself?" Janna yells. Janna looks back at Jinx and Lulu. They struggle to stand up. "Understood. Be careful," she says hesitantly. Janna flies over to Jinx and Lulu to assist them.

The Big One roars again. More rifts open around the team and tiny voidlings scatter. Larger voidlings such as the mantis and spitting monster scramble out. With each roar, more monsters appear.

"This _thing_ is their leader?" Poppy asks. She charges at the monster and swings her hammer. The Big One tanks the hit, unaffected by the blow. Poppy grimaces and unleashes a barrage of swings. The Big One swats Poppy away with the back of its arm. It roars again. Janna and Lulu do their best to defend Jinx while she dishes out as much damage as possible to the spawning monsters.

There's too many enemies for the four of them to handle. Lux watches in terror as her teammates get pushed back. "This is all wrong," she thought. "There's no way Poppy's melee attacks will damage the Big One's shell. She should be holding down the smaller minions. Jinx has been too close to buildings the entire fight. She's unable to use rockets freely. Additionally, Janna and Lulu can't handle the swarming mini voidlings on their own which forces Jinx to assist them. The overwhelming number disadvantage does not allow for the team to concentrate on fighting the Big One."

The Big One knocks Jinx against a wall. Janna's shield barely protects Jinx from breaking her bones. Jinx crashes to the floor below.

Jinx quickly sits up to let everyone know she's still conscious. "Ugh. My head." She leans against the wall behind her to help her stand. Janna and Lulu stand guard for Jinx as Jinx tries to recover. A rush of mini voidlings swarms them.

"There's too many!" Lulu yells. Her Glitterlance skewers a few of the minions. More voidlings surge in and replace them. Janna has no energy left to charge up her Howling Gale. The pitiful tornado is only able to weaken and delay the wave of monsters.

Lux stands paralyzed in fear. Images of last Friday dance in her mind. " _They're losing_. _If I don't do something, they're going to die,_ " she thinks. " _But, Poppy ordered me to stay here. I should trust in our leader._ "

Poppy presses the palm of her hand on her left shoulder. Anger has long since faded, leaving her with a sense of pain and soreness throughout her body. Blood drips between her fingers. Her right arm holds onto her hammer for dear life. She winces. " _Jinx, Janna, Lulu… I have to help them_." She tries to maneuver closer to them. Poppy leaps to the left to dodge the Big One's strike. Its claw scrapes against her leg.

" _Trust in the leader._ "

Poppy hits the floor and rolls a couple feet away. "Ah, I can't move," she cries. She looks first at the Big One lumbering slowly towards her, then back at her allies. Jinx still hasn't gotten up and is shooting at far ranged targets approaching the trio. Janna and Lulu are covered in bites and scratches. They fling the little demons off of themselves one by one. "No, I refuse to go down." Poppy readies herself to dodge another hit. The Big One raises its claw and slices at Poppy. Poppy forces herself to roll away; she's too slow.

Poppy closes her eyes and braces for impact. The claw never hits her.

The Big One screeches in frustration. A thin prism of light energy binds the creature. Poppy rolls herself to safety. The Big One struggles for a moment before snapping the threads of light. "Lux!" Poppy cheers. A Lucent Singularity vaporizes the small minions by Janna and Lulu.

"I'm sorry," Lux apologizes. "I hope you don't mind, Poppy. I'm taking back leadership."

Poppy grins. "What's our orders?"

"Poppy, Lulu, and I will take out the minions. Jinx can you still fight?"

"Barely."

"Good. We need everyone. Janna, support Jinx while she takes on the Big One from afar. If Jinx needs to rest, do you think you can distract the Big One long enough?"

"I think so…"

"Alright. Let's do this together, team." Lux immediately starts running to her left to take on some monsters. Poppy and Lulu follow.

The Big One roars and starts shooting plasma in a circle around itself. The team hides behind pillars for protection. The monster stomps the floor in rage, sending shockwaves through the floor. The concrete ripples like a giant wave.

"Hold on tight," Lux shouts. Janna grabs onto Jinx to steady her as the wave passes beneath them. Lux and Lulu opt to fly up to avoid the attack. Poppy, who is closest to the Big One is knocked up into the air. She easily recovers the fall in mid air.

"Don't worry about me," Poppy yells to Lux. She looks over to see if her leader is still distracted. Instead, she sees that Lux is laser focused. She smirks. " _That's the Lux we know._ "

The team is more focused than ever. The Big One thrashed wildly to try and rid the pests, but fails miserably at pinning them down. It's minions slowly dwindle in number and lose their coordination as their master weakens.

"Girls, I think I see a weakness," Lux observes while hiding behind a pillar for safety. "Pin it down for me," she orders.

Jinx fires her rockets at the beast, injuring it and blinding it with smoke. The Big One roars and swats in every direction indiscriminately. Lux begins channeling star power on top of a small hill.

Janna unleashes a Howling Gale at the monster's feet while the monster flails around in the smoke. It loses its balance and collapses on its belly.

Lulu seizes the opportunity to strike the monster's shell with her Glitter Lance. The beast screeches, discontented that Lulu aimed for an ever growing crack along its carapace.

Poppy charges in and jumps up as high as she can. She throws her weight into her strike. The blow flattens the creature into the concrete. Poppy jumps off the shell to safety.

The stars' energy fills Lux. The First Star, its energy, what is and what ever will be… Everything of the material world - Runeterra, stars, galaxies - and everything if the intangible world - dreams, hope, friendship. Lux contained it all, focused herself, and directed it towards the weakened voidling.

A pure while laser of concentrated light and energy, beautiful yet destructive, engulfes the Big One. The ground vaporizes to dust around the ray, igniting the floor adjacent to it.

The world rumbled under the immense energy and settled as the ray faded. Nothing is left of the Big One except for ashes. The ground underneath permanently scarred black. The edge of the ray's path of destruction is still faintly glowing from embers.

Lux's team stands in awe of the ray. The team becomes painfully aware of the warmth the ray produced once it has faded. The cold winter air rushes back in.

Lux's knees knock together as they struggle to hold her weight. After a few unsteady steps, she collapses onto her knees.

"Lux!" Poppy runs to Lux and supports her with her right shoulder.

"Mm...I got it," Lux mumbles. She gets back up to prove herself. "How's your shoulder," she asks.

"Oh." Poppy forgot about the gash during the heat of the battle. "It's fine. Well, at least not broken."

Lux smiles as the others approach. They gather around Lux. "Everyone, I'm sorry about being so selfish lately."

"We forgive you," Lulu replies. The team shares a hug.

"Are you guys okay with me being leader?"

"We wouldn't have it any other way."

Shortly after the battle, Team Ahri arrives. First to land is Ezreal who runs straight towards Lux, calling her name and waving. Soraka lands right after him, chasing. Then, arrives and lastly Ahri and Syndra. The last three are out of breath trying to chase down their teammates.

"You guys did well out there," Ahri begrudgingly compliments them.

"You saw the fight?" Lux asks.

"Only the end," she huffs. To Lux's surprise, Ahri didn't add any criticism.

Soraka healed the Lux's teammates. They thanked her sincerely. Lux sighed happily afterwards, appreciating the bonding experience everyone is sharing.

"What are you so happy about?" Poppy joked. "You do realize we're going to have to pay for the damages, right?"

Lux takes a deep breath and sighs loudly for all to hear. The team laughs wholeheartedly.

"Let's think about that tomorrow," Lux groans. "For now, let's go back home."

The five stars stream across the night sky, leaving colored trails - purple, red, green, blue, and their leader, pink.


End file.
